


Red Ribbon

by Bleak_Luminescence



Category: Free!
Genre: Friendship/Love, M/M, Mild Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 17:31:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bleak_Luminescence/pseuds/Bleak_Luminescence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the relay at regionals, Haruka's mind is twisted around his thoughts, feelings, and words he needs to say to Rin before the two of them leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Ribbon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swirlyumbrellas](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=swirlyumbrellas).



AN: Merry Christmas! I'm sorry, but I didn't quite understand what exactly you were requesting with “reunion fluff”, so I just wrote my own interpretation of it. I hope you can enjoy it anyways!! Very light fluff, but fluff nonetheless. I'm also new to using this site (and posting fan fiction in general) so I hope I don't mess up with formatting and uploading as well, haha. This takes place after the ep.12 relay, before the boys leave with their respective teams. 

***

 

So few an evening has there been a sky as breathtaking as this. Coated in the beautiful hues and ombres of peach, lilac, and scarlet, the mosaic above my head gave the comforting ambiance of warmth and peace. There couldn't have been a better scenery to fit the feelings in my heart right now. However, no better addition was there than the individual ambling beside me. 

Rin.

The name was by no means a foreign one to my lips or my mind, unlike his physical presence. 

On the outskirts of the venue, he walked by my side following the- no, _our_ relay. A relay so fulfilling, I was able to realize the final parts of myself that I thought I'd already discovered in a sight I'd never seen before. I'm certain the others- Makoto, Nagisa, and even Rin himself- had their moments of realization as well, whatever those may have been. Following that relay, I knew just how to add up what the feeling that put me into action were. The feelings that pushed me from apathy to _running for my life_ to save my team mate, my friend, Rin, from himself. 

_That person who is most precious to me..._

That's how I've come to relate to Rin, there wasn't any way I could dodge that reality. His tears, the relay, and the brief moments immediately following _(the comfort of his embrace...)_ validated and solidified those thoughts within me. 

At the same time... Was this a reality? The reunion and reconciliation wasn't at all how I envisioned it. Everything happened so quickly... And while that was with no compromise to how much it all meant to me, still... I feel like I need reassurance. I need to know this is real, that this is permanent, _that you're not going to slip through my fingers and drain away like the water you embody._

_Rin!_

“Oi, Haru. We've been walking for 10 minutes now, and you've been dead silent, as usual. What was it you needed to talk about away from the others?” Rin heavily sighed out the words. 

It's not a surprise to the either of us that I've become unresponsively rapt in my thoughts again, even though I was the one to take Rin all the way out here to speak to him about the very things constricting my mind. 

“Yeah, yeah, I'll get to that. Calm down,” I reply to his familiar moaning, as I try to figure out how to piece together every racing thought in my head. 

“Geez... So what is it? There's not long until Samezuka's bus departs, and I don't want being late as yet another reason to piss off captain, considering what we just did...” Rin trails off. That's right, for swimming in our relay and betraying his own team, there's probably a punishment in store for Rin. Even so, his face did not reflect irritation, rather, a genuine curiosity. I need to come up with my own plan quickly...

“Rin,”

“Huh, yeah?”

“How... do you handle an unshakeable emotion? When there are words left unsaid... and you want to feel like everything happened as it should, but still there's irritation...”

“Hah? What are you going on about, Haru?” Rin replies, lost by my incoherent train of thought. 

“Everything should be good, and you feel happy but still... but still you feel there needs to be more. Or you feel what you already have gained will just... Disappear, as soon as you got it.”

Rin looks at me with his head tilted with concern, eyes coated in empathy. He takes a step closer to where I'm standing. So close... 

“I feel like I can understand what you're trying to say.. I mean, the general idea. B-but.. I don't really know what you're referring to... I want to know what you're talking about,” Rin says honestly. 

The change in his character is so plainly evident with just his reply, and for the moment I can trust he can sense the underlying feelings. However. I realize my skills in communicating my feelings and thoughts still aren't the greatest, since I've only just become more open... But, no matter what, I had to communicate to Rin my thoughts, my worries, my feelings..! If I can't, then can I really be satisfied...?

If being direct was the best approach, then Rin would surely understand. 

Staring intently into Rin's warming scarlet eyes, I cautiously moved my hand to lightly grasp his. His eyes wavered briefly, but he remained still and silent, expecting me to say something.

Trying not to be entirely distracted by the warmth that was Rin's hand, as he slightly encircled his fingers around my own, I decided it was now or never. 

“Rin.. I know a lot of what I just said really doesn't make any sense, and to be honest, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. But... My mind right now is telling me that this is right, that this can collect my thoughts and find my answers... And I want you to help in finding those answers with me, Rin.”

Rin stares back at me with an equal intensity in anticipation. Raising my other hand, I softly stroke his other cheek with my thumb.

_The cheeks that were stained with tears earlier,_ I thought. 

My face begins to move forward on it's own, as if my body is on auto-pilot.

_Although your tears are beautiful, I don't like to see your cheeks stained with tears of pain and sadness, streaking down your face. I want to see your face stained in that happy, inviting flush of yours._

Closer.

_Rin. Let me know that this is real..!_

Closer.

_I need to feel your feelings like my own..!_

Too close.

_Rin... I love-_

My thoughts lie at a standstill as soon as my lips graze Rin's with an electrifying sensation. The warmth of his lips radiate through the nearly non-existent space between us. Suddenly, that space is closed with an ungraceful contact by Rin himself.

He anticipated this. No, he _wanted_ this.

_Rin... Thank God..._

With that physical confirmation, I freed myself from restraint. Feeling Rin's hand squeezing my own, his other grasping onto the back of my jersey, I cupped his face, pulling him deeper into the kiss. _God,_ were his lips soft and sweet. As much as I didn't quite know how to kiss, and clearly neither did Rin, I moved purely by instinct, hoping every small movement can tell Rin just what I was thinking, just how I feel about him. 

Time was slowed to a crawl as I took every passing second to both savor the warmth of Rin's lips moving against my own and communicate every intricacy of our thoughts, as though we were speaking a voiceless foreign language with our lips. When I felt my own sense of fulfillment, when there was nothing left to tell him... I gently broke the kiss. Slowly opening my eyes, Rin gazes longingly with tears threatening to spill over his patchy flushed face.

That's okay too, I guess. A frighteningly beautiful sight. 

As soon as my mind registered the vision of Rin's breathtaking face, his arms were surrounding me in an embrace reminiscent to the one earlier after the relay. Only this time, Rin was not sobbing. 

“... I thought so. You sure make no sense when you're speaking, but you were feeling the same way... I understand, Haru,” Rin spoke somberly into my ear, not quite a whisper but not quite speaking, a gentleness I've never before encountered with him. 

“Ah... So this is real... This is you, and you're here... Thank God,” The words I couldn't quite spit out earlier spilled out of my mouth naturally.

“Yeah,” He affirms. “I'm not going anywhere, don't worry. I don't have a reason to run and hide anymore. I can thank all of you guys for that... but, I thank you the most, Haru,”

The grin stretching the expanse of my face aches as my eyes sting with relief and joy. 

“It's because... I love you, Rin. I couldn't just let you go, let you destroy yourself. I absolutely had to fight for that resolution today. I couldn't let things end badly through my own lack of action again... I couldn't shoulder the guilt of ruining you once more, letting you destroy yourself. I wouldn't be able to live with myself,” I manage to say. I was confident enough in my confession to not feel nervous. 

Rin lets go of my body and holds lightly onto my shoulders, once again making contact with wavering eyes.

“I wouldn't have d-destroyed myself, idiot...” he paused “...Thank you. For everything... In the end, I really do... l-love you too.” The somber sweetness envelops Rin's voice once again at his reciprocated confession. 

If Rin were water, then I was wrong in assuming he would slip away from my fingers before my eyes. Rin was the ice, still water, frozen in place with no intentions of ever leaving my side. 

The warmth of the watercolor sky permeates my being, washing me over with an unfamiliar intensity of relief and fulfillment as I lean in and share that warmth with the lips that wait before me once more.

I'll melt that ice, but it will remain pooled within my palms.

***

  
“You know, I think your sister kinda saw this coming. Or had faith in us being able to work things out and return to each other, anyways. Just recently, she mentioned something about us being tied with a red ribbon of fate, or something... Although, she wasn't sure if it applied to boys,” I casually mention to Rin as we walk back to the venue, knowing we're already late.

“Tch, damn that Gou... Always sticking her nose where it doesn't belong and saying unnecessary things,” He snapped, looking away and rubbing his neck. “Although, I guess I owe her my gratitude. As a brother, of course! I mean... If it weren't for her taking the initiative, well, would we have ever sorted out or misunderstandings and reconciled? Would we be right here, right now?” He ponders, gazing off into the darkening sky. 

“Maybe not exactly in this scenario, but we would have ended up together again, somehow. That _is_ the idea of the Red Ribbon of Fate,” I teasingly assured him, taking in the sight of the sky, just as he was.

“Humph, I knew that.” 

He's still the same old Rin.

“In light of everything that happened today... What does that make us?” Rin thinks aloud.

“Heh heh,” I chuckled at the previously oblivious Rin babbling to himself.

“W-what's so funny about that??” An embarrassed Rin snarls at me.

“Nothing... I was just thinking that now, we have all the time in the world to figure that out for ourselves,” I assured him.

“Yeah... You're right.” A faint smile turns up the corners of Rin's mouth.

We walk the rest of the way in the comforting silence of each other's presence.

“MATSUOKA SENPAI!!” The silence was sliced by a deafeningly loud scream from a silver-haired boy running frantically in our direction.

Rin and I stop dead in our path as the boy I recognize from his earlier confrontation with Rin sprints towards him before halting. 

“Matsuoka senpai! I'm sorry, but I've been looking for you for half an hour now! Where have you been? Captain Mikoshiba needs to see you!!” He yells through ragged, exhausted breaths.

“Ah, yeah. Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you,” Rin speaks in a monotonous voice, a grave expression etching his face.

“Y-es!!” The boy nodded, briskly turning around and walking from the direction he came from.

“Yeah... Time to face the music. Can't say I don't deserve this,” Rin breathes guiltily. 

“Rin?”

“Yeah, Haru?”

“If in the worst case scenario, you get removed from your team... You're always welcomed on the Iwatobi team. Because even if you're on a different team now... We're always team mates.”

Rin faced me with an earnest smile and eyes glazed in gratitude. “Yeah, of course... Thanks, Haru.”

Washed with emotion, my brief returning smile was immediately followed by a quick kiss to Rin's cheek. “Good luck, okay? I'll see you.”

“Thanks. I'll see you soon too, Haru.” His smiling face turned towards the direction of his fate as a swimmer at Samezuka, and his feet took him away. 

I, too, left to return to my own team, unable and unwilling to prevent everything that just took place from replaying in my mind.

_Rin..._

_I love you._


End file.
